Exploring the unexplored.

Archive for the month “July, 2013”

This was a plan that was decided as soon as i got back from Chitradurga.

The plan was very simple, enjoy the sunday in the best possible way we can and that is to ride merrily.

The Riders – Myself, Nabila, Hari, Nidheesh and Nitin

The Rides – 2 Classic 350, 1 Unicorn

Distance – 120 kms one way

Food – At the junction on Blore – HYD highway where we turn left to Lepakshi, there is an APSRTC Hotel, decent food.

The journey.

We started at about 10.30 from the starting point at Esteem Mall on Airport Road.The road was as straight as an arrow, we drove at a constant speed of about 90-100 kmph. The climate was a huge plus and the breezy wind made it even more memorable.

We stopped on the way for Petrol and then kind of thought we could maybe have breakfast but as the time was 11.30, they were preparing Lunch and so there wasn’t any food for break fast. Then we just had coffee/tea and proceeded to lepakshi.

The temple was just so mesmerizing, said to be built around 1568, around 600 odd years back. The place was simply a paradise for photographic freaks and yes thats exactly what happened. All the shutterbugs went crazy clicking in our own merry ways.

Then we headed to the Nandi that was there in the town and clicked around there too. Oncee done we heded to the same Hotel for Lunch and then headed to Nandi Hills for Sunset as pplanned, on the way he hit a mini cloud burst and continued on to the to of the hill. The place was very windy and cold. But ya the scenic views were simple amazing. Again clicked away to glory, capturing the rays of the sun trough the clouds as the Sun was playing Hide n seek.

The excitement for the ride has been very high, in fact on Friday night at around 12 both me and Vasu Sir roamed around Bangalore to get print out’s of the Indemnity Bond for the Ride. We sorted that out around 2 and then slept off to get up at 5 and reach the starting point at the Parle Biscuit factory on Tumkur road.

We all gathered there at almost the times as agreed and began with the impromptu introductions with each other and then started off on the saddle to chitradurga. We kept a steady speed of aroun 70-80 kmph untill we reached tumkur, where we stopped for a sumptous break fast where everyone gobbled up the famous Tatte Idlies and Vada with Coffee/ Tea and the Ciggy’s for the Chimney people.

Once done with breakfast we began thumping, the roads were brilliant apart from a few small hitches here and there, it was otherwise a brilliant ride. So we guys kind of stopped in between for a leak and then gave the pilot guys a substantial lead so that we could like simply thump on and move at our leisurely speeds. We simply flew on the bikes cutting through the wind, I was in fact riding a pillion after a very long time, but ya Roshan never made it difficult at any time. He rode in a way that it just dint feel any worse that i was riding pillion.

We stopped at a deviation that was to take us to Vani Vilas Sagar Dam, one of the oldest dams in India. The road to the dam from the highway was simply amazing, it had loads of turns and bends. Again hitting the curves and bends was simply a refreshing experience. By this time I had saddled up o Ravi’s FZ. It was again brilliant.

The dam was brilliant, the windmills all around it was again a picturesque scene which was simply eenjoyed by one and all. There was a small hill to climb, but everyone wasn’t keen on any kind of trekking so we all simply stopped by the end of the walkway and took some rest before we trolled back to the bikes to begin towards Chitradurga.

As we reached for the highway we stopped as 2 bikes hadn’t come. As we din’t want the entire group to get late, we suggested the pilot group to keep moving forward and Me Roshan and ravi waited for the 2 bikes to arrive, they arrived after about 20 minutes, reason being Anil’s Bike Puncture. Then we began at the recovery time clocking amazing speeds, to caatch up with the lead pack.

That was a gud 30-40 km stretch where Roshan just zipped past and wasn’t to be seen after I kinda got held back behind a lorry. Then we reached Chitradurga, and checked into Hotel Aishwarya Fort. The place was decent and maintained well too.

We all took some rest and had lunch and then rested for some more time before we decided to go to a Cave, about 1600 years old. The place was built so brilliantly that it was walking, crawling, bending across the caves. It just had so much history in it, that simply mesmerized one n all. The architecture, the thought process behind every work on the cave was brilliant.

Then we got back to our rooms and took more rest as we had to see the world famous Chitradurga Fort tomorrow. The night was well spend having fun, dancing, singing and enjoying. We all got ready at our own leisure times and then began towards the Fort. We reached the Kaamna Dwar entrance of the fort from where we got a guide to tell us more about the fort’s history. The fort was simply planned and built so well that the enemy could not entire through that by any means what so ever. There are close to 150 watchpoints all around this fort making it impossible to get into the fort.

There were temples, gardens, flag points, gymnasiums, we also saw a trail that lead to one of the top points in the fort which was supposedly used to select candidates into the army wherein these guys had to run to the top of that his and climb down as well that too while the hill and the trails is sprayed with GHEE making it slippery as hell. The we saw the ponds that were made only to collect Rain water, these had supposedly enough water in them to suffice for around 12 years. Then we got a point that is possibly the highlight of the Fort, called Onakke Obavva. This because a lady whose name is Obavva, killed a few hundred enemy soldiers who somehow found a way into the fort (a back door entry), she killed almost all of them with her Onakke (the wooden plank used to grind wheat, rice). The rocks and huge boulders all around the fort resembled many animal, like an elephant, a rhino, a frog etc. The was a water spring also in these where the water was like freezing cold. we clicked lots of photos and made merry.

Then we descended back to the hotel to start for the return journey. It was again an awesome ride back. Everyone was advised to heavy break fast. This also made a few kinda sleepy too, but then riding back also was simply amazing.

There were a few first timers when it came to long rides in a group, all of them had fun and enjoyed the ride as much as the veterans did.

As planned on the previous ride, I was all clear on where i was headed to this weekend. All I wasn’t sure was, who would partner me if at all someone would join in. This time it was Ravi who somehow managed to scrape some time off on a sunday from his busy schedule that he adheres to all week as vasu Sir was on some pre planned work at home.

We started at about 12.15 near Vasu Sir’s house. We both headed on to Tumkur highway and continued on our merry ways untill we realized that we both had to fill petrol. We stopped for Gas and then vroomed on.

The road was awesome, we reached Dabbaspet and took the left to Shivgange and reached there by around 1.30 pm. We parked our bikes and started the climb.

The climb has a few temples, Devi Temple and Shiva Temple to begin with before the actual climb to the Top begins. On the top there is a beautiful statue of Nandi carved out of single. The climb to the top is about two kilometers from the parking lot. But this is actually more of a steep climb that most trekking enthusiasts will enjoy. The climb was very steep, but was manageable.

The climate was very windy and cool yesterday and so we were able to cover the distance more easily. We enjoyed the trek, as it began drizzling on our way to the top, the camera wasn’t put to action. But once the rain stopped, we began clicking and manged to get a few decent snaps.

The descent downhill was as mush scary as the ascend. My legs began disco dancing (shaking) after a certain point of time, because of the jerks my knees had to encounter.

This is was an absolutely unplanned ride, wherein me along with Vasu Sir and Prakash Sir just minutes before we left from home decided to go to a place called Devarayanadurga in Tumkur District. This place is roughly around 75 Kms from Bangalore.

We took the Tumkur highway and rode leisurely upto Dabbaspet from where we took a deviation towards the right and hit the road that lead us to Devarayanadurga. The road was fun to drive on, it had some nice curves and bends. On our way we had a group of Yamaha 350’s and Duke 200’s on their way back from some rideof their own.

We reached the Temple at Devarayanadurga after encountering some nice clean U Turns.

We understood from a local that The place was originally known as Anebiddasari and Jadakana Durga after a chief named Jadaka and now known as Devarayana Durga after this land was captured by a King Devaraja Wodeyar.

The place was very serene and calm. Once we parked our bikes, it was a climb to the top of the hill where the temple was situated.

We climbed at our own pace, spotted a few monkeys on the way to the top.

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Then we had a good darshan. After which we lazed around near the temple, spotted 2 snakes and also took time to munch a few biscuits and kalle pori before we came down to head back home to Bangalore.

We stopped at Kamat on our way back, had food and simply rode back home in a frenzy.

Little did we realize that it was Vasu Sir’s wedding Anniversary that day.

At least my parents were more happy for a change that I spent a day and a ride for a visit to a temple.

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